tumblebug

[ tuhm-buhl-buhg ]

noun

1. any of several dung beetles that roll balls of dung in which they deposit their eggs and in which the young develop.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tumblebug¹

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1805; tumble + bug ¹

Example Sentences

The park says on its Facebook page that the tumblebug is one of the many beetles found in the Smokies that relies on animal scat to complete its life cycle.

From Washington Times

Fabre's book on the Sacred Beetle—the tumblebug of our fields and roadways—tells how the thing came out.

From Project Gutenberg

A tumblebug zest, a nose pinched to sneering, a slurring tongue—with no more equipment you and I could draw a picture of Garfield as it is done in the fashion of to-day.

From Project Gutenberg

Survival of the fittest, adaptation, And all their other evolution terms, Seem to omit one small consideration, To wit, that tumblebugs and angleworms Have souls: there's soul in everything that squirms.

From Project Gutenberg

Survival of the fittest, adaptation, And all their other evolution terms, Seem to omit one small consideration, To wit, that tumblebugs and angleworms Have souls: there 's soul in everything that squirms.

From Project Gutenberg